Irish Times sensationalism September 25, 2008

The once respectable Irish Times continues its descent into tabloid sensationalism. Today’s edition carries this splashy photo lead:

No doubt this sort of image sells papers, but it’s the headline that really cranks up the hype:

Labour TDs in cordial greeting as Dáil resumes

Now I’m an adult and I know that cordial greeting does go on in this country, even amongst our political classes, but it is really necessary to have it thrust in our faces on the front page of our paper of record? I’m happy enough for such matters to be discreetly reported on the inside pages, but bear in mind that children will have seen this on the news stands.

The decline of broadsheet papers began when they introduced colour. They have never been the same since, and look more and more tacky. This goes for all papers, not only the Irish times.

The photo above was probably chosen because it shows the tallest female Labour TD with her shortest male colleague. Such I would expect to see in a tabloid paper or the Guinness Book of Records, but not in the Irish Times.

But then again, what can one expect from a paper that is edited by a former TD of the (now defunct) ‘Progressive Democrats’.

As I was first reading it, I was thinking ‘Jeez, lighten up’. Of course, it soon became clear joemomma was being sarcastic. And as Pavement Trauma just pointed out, he wasn’t the only one to miss the sarcyness. Yes, WorldbyStorm’s and Emerald Islander’s comments were po-faced.

Then there was this gem: “The decline of broadsheet papers began when they introduced colour.” Yeesh! Do I detect a hint of luddism?

Lighten up men! I need to download/write a piece of software that scans online newspapers for keywords that will filter certain information I’m looking for. Did ye see how Fás had a recent junket in Kilkenny worth up to 12k? – 17 of them drove in separate cars from Dublin to Kilkenny, each claiming the 78cents per km that we somehow allow our civil servants to charge. (I used to do that myself when I had a job until recently) I found this junket gem in the Mail on Sunday incidentally …

I thought the Burton/Michael D picture was a nod to the image of the tiny PingPing/tall Swedish (Danish?) blonde that youngdan introduced a few of us to recently …